Connecticut Audubon Society seeks volunteers to monitor osprey nests

According to the Connecticut Audubon Society, ospreys have made an amazing comeback after almost being driven to extinction. The CT Audubon Society has found and mapped 575 osprey nests around the state.

The public can help ospreys by volunteering their birdwatching skills to monitor an osprey nest.

It’s easy. If you have binoculars and can spare about 15 minutes every two weeks, you can watch an osprey nest and then tell us what you see.

Email us at [email protected]

Osprey eggs are starting to hatch now. At this point in the season, we are mainly interested in when the baby ospreys leave the nest. But our guess is that you will enjoy it more than you think and will want to make more observations.

Here’s how you can help:

Take a few minutes to look at our interactive map. Zoom in on an area near you. Red pins are nest locations in need of a monitor.

Or peruse this list and find a nest near you (the numbers correspond to the numbers on the map).

Or email us for more information and for help finding a nest:[email protected]

How will this help ospreys and the environment? Ospreys eat only fish, so their health depends on healthy waterways. We will track the information you send us and use it as an early-warning sign of pollution or other factors that could directly impact Connecticut’s ospreys.

More than 100 people around the state have already signed up to help but there are still 240 active nests not being monitored.